Pretense (Elven Alliance Book 5) by Tara Grayce

Author:Tara Grayce [Grayce, Tara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sword & Cross Publishing
Published: 2021-12-09T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Farrendel lay there, trying to figure out what had awakened him.

A person had crossed the boundary of his magical shield. An elf, based on the brush of elven magic. Likely not a threat, but it was never a good thing when someone approached his room in the middle of the night.

After easing out of bed without waking Essie, he grabbed his swords and quickly buckled them on over his loose shirt and trousers. He padded down the stairs to the main room, then tiptoed to the front window.

A guard Farrendel recognized hurried across the branch toward Farrendel and Essie’s rooms.

Farrendel opened the door before the guard even had a chance to knock and stepped onto the porch, shutting the door behind him.

The guard jumped, then bowed. “Amir. Weylind Daresheni requested that I wake you, the amirah, and the amirah’s mother and tell all of you to pack your bags. He will meet you at your workshop shortly.”

“Did he say why?” Farrendel clamped down on his magic to keep it from flaring out of his control.

The guard shook his head. “No, amir.”

Something bad was going down. Farrendel forced himself to take a deep breath, even as his chest squeezed tight.

The guard bowed one more time, then spun on his heel, placing his back to the door in a guard position.

Farrendel shut the door, bracing himself against it for a moment. Then, he ran back the way he had come, the steps cool beneath his bare feet.

Inside their room, Essie still slept, curled in a mound of blankets and snoring softly.

Farrendel gently shook her shoulder. “Essie, love.”

She mumbled, groaning. When he shook her again, she lifted her head and blinked at him, her expression still hazy with sleep.

He brushed hair from her face. “I am sorry, but you need to wake up.”

Essie rubbed at her face, her voice still slurred with sleep. “What’s going on?”

“I do not know.” Farrendel left her side and grabbed his travel bag from a hook. He shoved several shirts, tunics, trousers, and stockings into it. “Weylind sent a guard to wake us with orders to pack our bags.”

Essie rolled out of bed, her eyes widening. Like him, she must know how bad this was if Weylind had given this order. “I’ll wake my mother.”

Within a few minutes, Farrendel, Essie, and Macha were dressed and packed. They piled into the lift, and Farrendel turned the crank to lower them to the roof of his workshop.

Essie gripped a tin of soda crackers and munched on one as they descended.

The sound of her munching grated against Farrendel’s spiking anxiety, but he forced himself to take several deep, calming breaths. It would be worse if Essie did not eat and started vomiting over the side of the lift.

As the lift rested on the roof of the workshop, he sensed Weylind crossing his magical alert. But Weylind was not alone as Farrendel had expected. He felt the brush of several more elves, including Rheva, Ryfon, and Brina. Even more surprising was the cool taste of Rharreth’s magic and his troll guards, along with Melantha.

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